1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network game which progresses with a plurality of players participating in the game, and, more particularly, to a network game which allows characters to move without a character being manipulated by a corresponding player during a period in which the player cooperates with other players to progress with the game.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent advancement on the network technology has made network games (online games) vivid in each of which a plurality of players participate to progress with the game. A system that executes a network game includes a server apparatus which is managed by one who runs the network game, and client devices of individual players which are connectable to the server apparatus over a network such as the Internet.
An RPG (Role Playing Game) among the network games progresses as multiple players participate in the game at the same time so that their player characters cooperate with one another to battle with an opponent character, or the players make their player characters battle with one another. Recently, an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online RPG) which permits participation of more players is also provided.
In a game system which allows an unspecified number of players to progress with a same game via no server apparatus but through radio communications only with portable game apparatuses, normally, each player performs an operation to progress with the game with a plurality of players present as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-61253. In a network game system which allows a plurality of players to progress with the same game at the same time, the players are performing operations in on-line at the same time to progress with the game in the real time.
In a case where a player is progressing with a game with his/her own client apparatus (portable game apparatus or the like) connected to a network, when the player operating the client apparatus breaks away from the game even temporarily, the player character which is moved by the player does not make any move at all during that breakaway period. In this case, even when the movement of the player character is temporarily stopped, the player characters of other players participating in the network game keep moving and the game itself is progressing. The player character which has stopped moving may give uncomfortable feeling to the other players participating in the game.
Because the other players progress with the game without waiting for the player who has broken away from the game while this player is not temporarily moving the player's own player character, the player characters of the other players may move to a different place. As a result, the breakaway player may not know the locations of the other player characters which have played the game together with the breakaway player even if the player moves the player's own player character again. One way to solve the problem is to make the other players wait for the player. However, to keep the other players waiting without making any movement raises another problem.
A player who wants to temporarily break away from a game may worry about a disadvantage on the player's own player character caused by the breakaway from the game, and thus may restrain from temporarily breaking away from the game and keep playing the game. In case of breaking away from a game, a player may temporarily disconnect from the server apparatus. However, repeating disconnection from the server apparatus and connection thereto is troublesome, and a player who temporarily breaks away from the game is likely to give sense of mistrust to other players.